As I lay there on the couch with Bibarel and Mable, I couldn't help but have my attention drawn to the belt of Pokéballs that Mable wore. She had a full complement of six traditional red-and-white Pokéballs magnetically attached to her belt in the shrunken state, but... why hadn't I ever seen her with any other Pokémon? I prodded at her stomach to get her attention, and she peered down at me with a curious humming, "What is it, Ditto?" I pointed at the Pokéballs, then at Bibarel to try and get my point across. One of them was clearly only a little scuffed up and worn, resting in the front-most position. She tapped a finger against it after my antics.
"Yep, this one's Bibi's. What are you after?" Under her stare, I leaned over and tapped down the other five, all looking much worse for the wear. Ragged, beat-up and battered, to the point I had to wonder if they worked anymore. I pointed at the other Pokéballs in turn, then glanced back up at her inquisitively. "So who are the other- MPH." I was rather abruptly stifled by Bibarel moving from his position on the couch to lay over Mable's lap, and consequently over myself, squishing me flat. "Hey! What the heck, Bibarel?" The irate questioning of my 'Dit? Ditto!?' was muffled underneath the fluffy beaver's body.
He didn't respond, but I heard a soft, exasperated sigh from Mable as she picked Bibarel off me and set him back on the couch alongside. "You shouldn't ask-" 'Biba-relll-'
"It's alright, Bibi, calm down." Mable reached over and ran a hand atop Bibarel's head, stroking it with a fond expression on her face, before turning her attention back toward me. "I'm surprised you noticed, Ditto. Then again, you've been such a curious little fella' over the past few days, so I guess I oughtn't be. These are mostly for show, these days. Keeps some of the younger trainers from pesterin' me for a fight if they think I'm walking around with a full, experienced team. Bibi's the only Pokémon I've got, at the moment. Well, at least in a Pokéball." Her fingers hooked underneath my body as I was hoisted into the air again when she rose, being carried through the house.
"Let's go, I'll show you some old pictures. You know, I used to be a bit of a tomboy, when I was growing up." Mable spoke with a fond, reminiscent tone of voice, opening a door into what looked like a showcase turned into a storage room. "I was the bug-type girl, chasin' all the pretty winged bugs with a Pokéball in one hand and a Butterfree net in the other. We did pretty well for ourselves. I loved the pretty colors, the gentleness of the fluttery, flitting bugs." There were cardboard boxes piled up around the floor, but the walls were still clearly layered with photographs, and a small series of trophies sat on a shelf.
One of the first pictures showed a young, borderline buck-toothed girl in the traditional bug-catcher's outfit that I had trouble picturing as a younger Mable, holding up a Ledyba bigger than her own head. Hoisting it triumphantly in both hands, while the bug stared toward the camera in placid confusion. "Ledyba was an odd choice for a girl to pick as her starter, but I couldn't have been happier. Me and that little bug were inseparable." Were? Oh. Man, I could see where this was going...
She ran her fingers across the photograph, and continued her trip down memory lane as she introduced it to me. A silver trophy with a bug net represented on the top, then three more that were all gold. Pictures of that girl growing slightly older, with more Pokémon showing up alongside her. She wasn't kidding when she said she loved the winged bugs, she had pictures with almost all of them I had an easy recollection of.
A picture of an excited girl next to a glowing Metapod, then grinning even more brightly with a Butterfree perched atop her head. The next showing the more brightly-colored Beautifly, frozen in a twirling dance with the Butterfree, both circling a Ledian now. So the Ledyba evolved, huh? Then one with the unnervingly large-eyed stare of gentle purple carapace pressed far too close to a camera, that I was fairly certain was a Venomoth. Vibrant green wings clashing against another pair that were just a noxiously colorful orange, a Dustox and a Mothim looking like they were having a disagreement over food.
"I kept going, catching more and more of my beautiful bugs, making my own little swarm of pretty colors. Battling, sure, that was one thing. But just being on an adventure, seeing the faces of the other girls who might have stronger Pokémon than I did, but were clearly still entranced by the team composition. The theme I favored and the fanciful dance of status powders and glistening winds in battles. And a few contests, too!" Mable took a long breath, and I didn't want to peek upward to disturb her. I wasn't sure if she was crying, but it sounded like she might be about to. The last thing I wanted to do was interrupt her moment. All I did was pat lightly against the arm holding me, trying to be reassuring. Bibarel, too, nestled himself up against her leg and hugged onto her.
Photos of that girl holding up a case with one, then two, then three shining gym badges glistening in their slots. The first in the shape of a bug, which she looked so excited about that she was hugging her Ledyba hard enough it was clearly distressed and trying to wriggle free in the photo, with a blonde-haired woman wearing several cameras, oddly enough, that I assumed to be the gym leader standing next to her. The second was in the shape of six stairstep rectangles, taken alongside a young, confident looking man with what seemed to be... gems? Well, something rock-like all but rolled into his hair. Finally, a badge that looked like two fists touching, with another young, blonde woman with an absolutely bombastic, huge ponytail and what looked like a bike helmet.
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After pondering the faces, I was eventually able to feel the names on the tip of my tongue come together, drudging up the memory. Viola, Grant, and Korrina, the first three of the Kalos gym leaders. Though, they looked how I remembered from my knowledge, these pictures were taken when Mable was a young girl. Did that mean I was just sometime significantly in the future of what I knew from the games? Or could my knowledge of plot-elements even be considered worth noting at all? I wasn't the type to memorize the actual plot of the games regardless. I resumed glancing over photos with Mable, listening in as she continued.
"I never did finish all the Gyms, you know. And not just because I lost a few attempts, though I did, but I just enjoyed the travelling more. Wandering around to see the world will do that to you. You'll get lost in it, and I don't just mean because you didn't have a map. But, well. One of the beautiful things about bug Pokemon is how brightly they live. So earnest and energetic, every day. Until they start to get old." Mable took another long breath, sniffling quietly, raising her free hand to wipe at her eyes. Glancing over three more gym victory photos with an old man, a goggle-glasses wearing super nerd, and a black-haired beauty. Ramos, Clemont, and Valerie, this time. "A heart-breaking thing for a girl just coming into being a young adult to deal with. So I stopped my journeying around. Settled down and came home to my parents. And I just basked in their company, while I could."
The last few pictures on display showed a slightly older girl in her teens, surrounded on a couch by her entire team of bugs. But the signs were there, the lack of vibrancy in the colors, the lack of sheen on their carapaces. They were old Pokémon. And bugs, well, they weren't known for their longevity. "I wouldn't trade the time I had with my beautiful bug gals for anything, but I just never had the heart to really try and get back into being a proper trainer after that. I took up the family business, and instead I get to raise all the little ones on the pasture. Teach kids about them. See the joy in their eyes when they watch a Butterfree soar up into the air."
Leaning down, Mable set me onto the hardwood floor with an unsteady smile, lifting her watering eyes back up toward the photos strewn about the room. "So that's why I don't have anyone else around, just me and Bibi. Though he does a splendid job of not letting me mope around as a lonely lady, that's for sure. Still... Bibi, will you and Ditto go out back and... get some of the berries I've sorted out ready for dinnertime? I'll... I'll come out after you both in a few minutes." I nodded, and Bibarel reluctantly followed suit, both of us heading out the door, and back down the hall to go out back.
When it was just the two of us, I slumped down in a gooey puddle of shame. "I'm sorry I brought it up. I didn't mean to-"
Bibarel interrupted me, patting me atop the head, "It's fine. You had no way of knowing. Honestly, I'm not sure Mable would have had any Pokémon of her own if her family hadn't convinced her that she could use me to help out around the place. She... wasn't in a real great place, for a while, but that was years ago and she's really settled in and seems happy on the pasture, these days. I'm not sure if she's really better, or if she's just stopped thinking about the past these days. I was worried something like this might happen when she was showing off the Metapod evolutions..."
We moved together, after I transformed into a copy of Bibarel with an ache-laden groan. This made, what, four transformations for me, today? A feeling of lethargy hit me like a sack of bricks, but I pushed through it and helped Bibarel sort out the berries, dragging out the kibble bags to fill bowls, and generally getting ready to help serve up everyone's dinner. Mable's story had taken all the wind out of my sails, and happening when I was already physically exhausted... I just wanted to lay down and just go to sleep.
I could feel for Mable. It was obvious what an eager, caring trainer she had been. But to think that... I hadn't ever really considered Pokémon getting old. Obviously they would, but it was... heavy. To think about old age and death. I didn't even want to begin to start considering what my lifespan might be like as a Ditto, on top of everything else, so I forcefully shoved the thought to the back of my mind. "Hey, Bibarel?"
"Yeah? What is it?"
"I'm gonna grab some berries and go... lay down. Do you mind if I just crash in your bed in the kitchen, again?"
The beaver Pokémon flashed me a small grin, shaking his head. "I don't use it much anyway, so go right ahead. I can't promise that Mable won't come looking for 'ya when she's... in a better mood, but if you're asleep I'm sure she'll leave you be."
"Alright. Thanks, Bibarel." He waved his hand at me like it didn't matter, and after scooping up an armload of berries, I went back into the kitchen and hit the fuzzy pet-bed cushion with a thump. Taking advantage of Bibarel's form to eat the berries a little more easily, I polished them off quickly and just lay my head down on the rim of the bed, deciding that I just needed to sleep off the combination of battle-weariness and poor mood. Still, I couldn't help but admire Bibarel, doing his best to take care of Mable just as much as she took care of him and everyone else on the pasture.
"I guess everyone has their own stories, too, huh?" I mumbled to myself, absentmindedly, as the food, comfortable plushness beneath me, and weariness all combined to forcibly inflict the sleep status upon me.